Directing
Julien Schulmann is a comedian. He has just lost his father, a Polish Jew and extermination camp survivor. Before he died, his father left a "will" in which he requested that his other son, Pierre, who hasn't been heard from for two years, spread his ashes in Poland. His father's preference comes as a rude shock for Julien, and it opens a chasm inside him, slowly bringing to light an unspeakable secret.
A wretched man wanders the streets of Cap-Haitien, dreaming of his imaginary kingdom. He thinks he's the King Christophe, the first ruler of the New World, a former slave and liberator of Haiti in 1804. Out of town, "King Chacha," as he is known, took refuge in the imposing ruins of the castle of Sans Souci along with Timothy, a street urchin he took under his wing. Here he reconstructs a junk yard where reigns absurdly.
Anita is a barmaid at the center of a community of street preachers, prostitutes, dealers and users. When a beloved friend (and young drug dealer) is caught by narcotics agents, Anita takes it upon herself to score for his struggling clients.
Shot in early 2004 during the commemoration of the bicentennial of Haiti, this film offers a unique light on the last days to the presidency of Aristide, former priest of the poor became apprentice dictator. It is a reflection on the history of the first black republic in the world, a nation shared between the memory of its glorious revolution and the tragic litany of despots that have overwhelmed it since its independence.
At the end of the Second World War, following negotiations with the State of Israel and with Jewish organizations around the world, the German government decided to compensate the Jewish survivors of the concentration camps by offering them a spa treatment every two years. The shooting of this documentary film, which takes place mainly in the town of Evian-les-Bains, features the collective confrontation and respective testimonies of former Jewish deportees, including Solange Najman, the director's own mother.
A young woman has managed to convince a doctor friend to deliver her from an accidental pregnancy without following official procedures. On the night of her operation, she meets a young man who happens to be an apprentice waste sorter at the hospital.
The documentary evokes the devastating effects of the earthquake that struck the Haitian capital on January 12, 2010, through the words of Haiti's greatest poet Frankétienne and his premonitory play The Trap. Shot in the ruins of Port-au-Prince's main cathedral, this film is an ode to life and suffering, a poetic response to the tragedy and desperation of a people who continues to mourn the 250,000 lives lost in the earthquake.
